KINGS AND QUEENS WHO SMOKE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2086, 11 January 1908, Page 5 (Supplement)

KINGS AND QUEENS WHO SMOKE.

THE POPULARITY OF THE WEED IN HIGH PLACES.

M.A.P.” has discovered the in-

teresting fact that “the occupant of every tlione in Europe smokes—except two. tlioso of Holland and Turkey. Queen W'iilhelniina. possesses all the ideas of our grandmothers on the subject of smoking, and of .course the Mohammedan religion forbids the Sultan. But all the others are keen and enveterate smokers. King Edward is fond of both cigars and cigarettes, with a decided leaning in favor of the former. His cigars are said to cost him at least four .shillings apice. But they probably stand him in more than that, . uowithstanding thai?, for him, they come in duty free. The only persons possesed of perfect 'knowledge on the subject arc the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse and the Comptroller of the Household. One thing can be certain. Both cigacs and cigarettes are the best that are made. Emperor William of Germay smokes enormous cigarettes, made of course, specially for him, but is not a great cigar smoker. He is. however, immensely fond of an old-fash-ioned German- —really Dutch—pipe. The Emperor of Austria ureters the Austrian manufactured cigar. It is not made of Havanna tobacco, but of pure Virginia. These cigars are made round a long straw, running from end to end. King Leopold, of Belguim, is seldom without a cigarette in bis mouth, though bo is very fond of a pipe. 'Phis be lias oil the quiet. Cigarette Fiends. “King Alfonso has never taken U> cigar smoking. He was to young to smoke when the American war lost him Cuba. Before then the Koval House of Spain had as tribute the. finest Havanna cigars made. Now lie would have to buy them, like other pconic. But he is a keen and constant cigarette smoker. _ His favorites are thegeniune Spanish cigarito ; these are small, of black Havana to-

bacco, and thickish paper. They are not gummed like other cigarettes, hut are merely held together at the ends by a tiny fold-in of the paper. To smoke them properly you must re-roll them. This is a performance requiring great dexterity and much practice. King Carlos of Portugal, it is stated smokes from' forty to fifty cigars in a day. An occasional cigarette is all he wants. Pope Pious X. is the first Pope known to smoke a cigar, or intledd, tobacco in any form. Previous Popes in history only toko snuff. The Khedive of Egypt is a smoker, but is a poor judge of a good one, and consequently is noted tor the wretched quality of Ids cigarettes, which are, of course, imposed upon him as the best. His friends dread having him offer them one. The Czar smokes Russian cigarettes,_ of course, with t,ho cardboard mouthpieces. He sometimes indulges in a cigar, a very dry one for choice. All the Presidents smoke, or are believed to. except President Roosevelt, who is par-